Menu

Inside and Outside a Restaurant

Apart from my regular IT job, one of the things I do is run a restaurant. Indian bloggers are typically consumers. That’s how we have restaurant reviews (like this excellent one), describe our experiences with restaurant owners, complain about broadband service providers, and so on. Entrepreneurial bloggers are usually from the high-tech industry. I have yet to see an Indian blogger who runs a restaurant – if you know one, please let me know!

It all started around ten years back, when I moved to Pune. I observed the restaurant scene here and was intrigued. I thought of starting a restaurant of my own. It was a dream. The food business in Pune is phenomenal and I wanted to be a part of it. In Pune, this is one business proposition that never seems to fail.

There were many challenges. Having a full time job didn’t help. I didn’t have any of the necessary resources – finance, contacts, domain knowledge, and so on. So over the last few years, I slowly harnessed these, and chased my dream.

When things actually started materializing, it was a nightmarish scene that would do justice to a blog of its own. Getting legal, operational, bureaucratic, governmental, stuff done is not easy for an educated middle-class person in India – it requires non-academic skills that I wasn’t prepared for at all. But this was one of the whole point of the exercise – no one from my family had ever entered into business. I was the sole foolish one.

Finally, in June this year, I was able to rent a place and start my own restaurant. Here are some photographs of the restaurant, including some from the kitchen. Click on any of the photographs to see the larger version. The temporary shade you see in the first photograph is put up for the monsoon season. Once it is removed, the outside area is open to the sky and is quite pleasant.

Since I was a child, I was curious about one thing. It took my mom or any other Indian housewife at least an hour to prepare a single planned meal – how could the restaurant chefs prepare your chosen item from among a hundred in only 15-20 minutes? I got all such answers to my curiosity as part of my domain research.

The image at the right shows Indian condiments (spices) that are used for North Indian dishes.

The figure at the left shows condiments and other common ingredients used in Indian Chinese cooking.

Note that Indian Chinese cooking is vastly different from authentic Chinese, as most Indian readers of my blog would be aware.

I’ve outsourced the actual day-to-day management of the restaurant and only play a supervisory role. Staff management is one of the most critical aspects of running a restaurant, and handling attrition is very similar to the Indian IT industry.

There have been many interesting experiences when dealing with customers. One of the most problematic challenges during current times has been change. There is simply no change available from any source.

The equipment to the right is a “curry-making machine”. There are three different types of “curries” or “gravies” for all North Indian dishes. Green, white, and red. This machine is used to make the red gravy that is the base for making about 75% of North Indian dishes. This gravy is made 3-4 times a week. This also means that every North Indian dish you eat in a restaurant is not guaranteed to always be fully fresh – or made that day. You may be eating curry that was prepared yesterday, or worse, day-before-yesterday.

The photo above shows fresh vegetables from the market, ready to be cleaned and used. Basic stuff like food grains and rice is bought twice a month, while fresh vegetables are bought 3-4 times a week, depending upon the consumption. Some perishable items, like coriander, need to be bought every day.

Finally, these two photographs show the Indian tandoor. The tandoor chef is preparing the tandoor roti and naan that are ubiquitous North Indian breads. The photo to the left actually shows the charcoal at the bottom, and the rotis stuck to the inside of the tandoor oven.

A tandoor oven is “initialized” by coating the insides with a special mixture consisting of many ingredients including egg. So all vegetarians who eat vegetarian tandoor dishes or roti/naan, are actually unaware that they are eating something that was stuck closely onto a mixture that contained egg.

So, these are some glimpses into the insides of a typical restaurant. Do let me know if you liked the post!

If you’d like to know location details and directions to get there, continue reading…

43 thoughts on “Inside and Outside a Restaurant”

Mahendra,
You have a restaurant and still hold on to a job? Loudon Earth, WHY?
Give this restaurant all you have got, and make a product so that people come down from other corners of the country to eat on a Sunday! I would never let go of such a chance….
Very interesting, and do tell us how waiters spit on the soup of those who didn’t tip well last time, or were rude! :-)
PS- really enjoyed this post!

Wow! This is fantastic. The hidden side of you. This restaurant looks absolutely wonderful and CLEAN. We are always looking for restaurants in Pune as we go there only for the weekend at times…so please do send me the location details.
Thanks.

The restaurant looks wonderful. Let us know when you have expansion plans. Delhi is an excellent place to open food joints. That egg thing can actually bother vegetarians!!! Can’t help the story is the same in all restaurants.I really enjoyed the post. It had a different flavour.

Sowmya: it’s tough, but just like many other things in life! :-) Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

Rambodoc: I wish it were that easy! Come to Pune and you’ll see a restaurant every few feet you walk, touting cuisines from all parts of the world! If you want to join me in coming up with such a product…you’re welcome! :-)

Nita: Thanks! I think I’ll post location/direction details as a separate post altogether! I’m a stickler as far as cleanliness is concerned. I regularly inspect the kitchen on a routine basis, as hygiene is of prime importance.

Prerna: This is exactly what my cousin from Delhi said when she heard about this! :-) Thanks for your comments and I’m glad you liked how it looks.

Prerna: That was a great one! Puns are not my strong point either; especially with stalwarts like Ashok and Rambodoc amongst us!

Harsha: Wow – I never expected to have not just a reader, but someone on my blogroll, who has visited Yash already! This is unnerving as well as a pleasant surprise!

Regarding the gravy: yes, there are many disturbing things about eating outside that we’re usually not aware of! At Yash, it was difficult in the initial stage when we couldn’t predict the no. of customers. After the regular cycle is set, we’re now able to optimize it so that the worst case is you get yesterday’s gravy. You’ll be amazed if I tell you what happens at most other places! :-)

I’ve known this guy from a long time now, and I remember we discussing about this restaurant business while we worked together. I never knew he actually meant to go ahead and make this a reality. While some of us continue dreaming, at least one amongst us had the courage to do something about it :-)

I too am bitten buy the bug to start a restaurant in Pune. Both me and my friend, who are venturing into this have no background in the business. But we surely want to give it our best.

I will be greatly obliged if you cn give me some suggestions on the following:

1. Where do I start from to build on the business plan?

2. I would like to get in touch with some reputed turnkey consultants who can partner us from start to finish. Can you help with some information?

3. Would like to have a list (with contact details of suppliers of kitchen equipment.

4. Would dearly love to have a list of various permissions. licenses and clearences to be obtained for this business.

5. Would like to know what should be a ball park budget (under different heads) to keep in mind and provide for in the venture

6. How do we source the right staff? What types of personnel would be required? – Where do we recruit them from?

7. We are planning about 2500 to 3000 sq ft of space including all – predominently niche typical southindian fare – with limited choice like sandwiches, bhel,. What would you suggest as the marketing USPs?

I have a whole lot of queries to pick your mind – I guess I will take the liberty of dropping in at your place to discuss with you further.

Got to read this today. A Bit late but better late…. The food we tasted on Danika’s birthday was as good as any other place i have ever been to.
Feels good to have a family member actually own a restuarant !!!! A Reality Dream ??

All the very best and may you grow big enough someday to offer me a job of a F(ood)inance :) Manager in your star hotel …..

hi mahendra , well read you post it looks good . i am also an amatuer who wants to go good in this business. i worked in a indian restaurant in usa by the name sitar indian cusione. i just came back last month and am looking forward for some kind of break in hospitality.well i know how arestaurant runs and am quite eligible to bring in good results . if you find something thats useful do buzz back.regards . swapnil

It’s just 20 minutes with the train but in my city there are loads of Indian restaurants similar to the Amsterdam ones. It’s not the same thing as dining in India and they have, just like the Chinese adapted their dishes to the Dutch taste (to put it in perspective we boil everything and salt is the main spice we use. Sigh…)

Nah, I was just curious about your website. Loved your about me page and wondered what you would cook up for a company website.

Hats of to your determinaion to chase ur dream even while u are working. I wish lot of success to your venture and may you expand your dream still further. I am currently working on the plan for my restaurant.But i a not sure how do i and from where do I start. I plan to open a multi cuisine restaurant either in pune or mumbai. This will be exclusive continental. Can u give me some tips and advice on how do i start ?

I have the same background as you. Could you let me know the foll:
– Did you obtain the licenses yourself or hired an agent? How much do the licenses cost?
– Where does one look to find staff, especially the chef
– How did you find out what all equipment is needed, does it make sense to hire a restaurant consultant to give the domain expertise?

Just came across your blog while surfing. I’m Sandip & have stayed in pune for 7 yrs. I have studied at Symbiosis in Lavale campus & was a regular at your restaurant Yash on the Sus- Pashan road. I must have seen you as well but did not know your story.

Me & my friend also have a plan to start up a restaurant in Pune or Delhi and i wanted some help regarding this. My biggest problem is Finance. I dont have any saved money & i have a job which pays me well but i cant save substantial money. Kindly advice me if possible what are the things required to be kept in mind while starting a restaurant in Pune.

I would definitely visit & meet you when im in Pune next but if i can get any help from a successful entrepreneur it will help me build my bible.